Star Trek:Odyssey 9:Confessions
by rylansato
Summary: Zofchak and Sato become stranded on a desolate alien world and their situation becomes even more dire when Sato is injured and a big storm approaches.
1. More Shuttle Time

Star Trek: Odyssey: Confessions

_Chief Engineer's Log: Stardate:_ _57750.0. Commander Sato and I are heading towards the Briar Patch in response to numerous reports of radiation similar to the type found in the Talos Star System._

Dustin and Hoshi piloted the shuttlecraft Curry through the vast openness of space. It had been a few years since Dustin had been to the Briar Patch. He remembered when he was still on the Enterprise and they were sent to the Briar Patch to retrieve Commander Data and ended up uncovering a plot to remove the Ba'ku from their world and relocated them someplace else.

Dustin was a bit weary of traveling by shuttlecraft while in the middle of a war. The last time he traveled by shuttlecraft was when he had an alien creature wrapped around his neck and the shuttle was crippled by a Mirror starship and everyone aboard almost died. It wouldn't have been an issue if he wasn't incapacitated, allowing him to help Commander Merriell with the repairs. Hell, they probably wouldn't have had to wait for the Alexandria to beam them out if he didn't have that alien creature around his neck.

"We're within sensor range." Hoshi said. "I'm picking up small traces of radiation. The same radiation we picked up on Stardate: 57645.8."

"Any signs of interspatial anomalies?"

"No. It's completely devoid of Mirror activity."

Zofchak suddenly felt whatever trepidation he had over the mission go away as their good fortunes continued. Given, everything the crew had been through recently, Dustin was almost expecting a fleet of Mirror starships to be waiting for them.

Dustin looked at his instruments. "At our present speed, we should reach the radiation in a few hours."

During their trip to the Briar Patch, the two officers shared their Enterprise stories. Naturally, one found the other's stories more fascinating than their own. Hoshi talked about when Jonathan Archer recruited her to be one of his officers on the Enterprise and all of the exciting missions they went on up to the point when Archer was no longer able to make any long term memories and Tucker had to take command once Archer and T'Pol left. Then she talked about the never ending battle with the Xindi and how many times they came close to dying.

Dustin talked about when he was assigned to the Enterprise straight out of the academy. He mentioned the dealings with the Borg, when they found the Pegasus in the Devolin system, when the Enterprise-D was destroyed, when the crew went back into time to stop the Borg from preventing First Contact and even his last mission aboard the Enterprise when they fought Shinzon.

Hours later, they arrived to the coordinates of the radiation. The sensors picked up something and they didn't hesitate to let the two officers know about it. Hoshi pressed a few buttons on her side of the console.

"The radiation is beginning to create an interspatial anomaly. If we don't stop the radiation then it will create another doorway to the mirror universe." She said.

"I'm going to reconfigure the phasers to emit a phased anti graviton beam." Zofchak said.

Once finished, Zofchak joined Hoshi at the front of the shuttle.

"And…fire." He said.

After tapping a short sequence into the computer, sending it all the targeting and dispersion data it would need to complete the task at hand, Sato touched the firing button and then sat back in her chair as the beam did its thing.

The beam didn't look like the standard phaser fire. It was a terribly luminescent shade of jade and force Hoshi to temporarily shield her eyes from it until they could adjust to the intense light. They never completely adjusted; however, as each time she looked away Sato found an annoying spot in her vision where the beam's rays had temporarily stunned the rods and cones in her eyes.

Still, spots and all, it was an incredible sight to witness. The swirling beam drove into the source of the radiation like a hot knife through ice, generating a hurricane like maelstrom around its shrinking perimeters.

"It's working." Sato said as she glanced down at the sensor display. "the radiation's perimeter is down to ninety-five percent. Ninety. Eighty-five."

The two officer's successful thinking was cut short by the computer's annoying urgent beeping.

"What is it?" Zofchak asked.

"The radiation is collapsing too fast. The energy that it has inside doesn't have enough time to dissipate."

"I'm raising shields." Dustin said. "And pulling us back five thousand kilometers."

Instead of moving away, the shuttle lurched forward. Sato gritted her teeth as she realized what was going on.

"The beam is fluctuating. It's knocked navigation offline."

Turbulence began to slam into the shuttle. The two officers grabbed the sides of their stations, bracing for impact.

"If we don't get out of here, we're going to be pummeled by a level three shockwave."

More turbulence slammed into the shuttle. Sato briefly lost her grip on the edge of her station. She tried reaching for it but she couldn't grab hold. She fell back and crashed into the tactical station behind her, feeling the displays go dead as the force of her impact destroyed their interfaces. A brief surge of pain soared through her back.

The turbulence died down for a brief moment, long enough for Hoshi to return to her position beside Dustin and see the shuttle aimlessly pivoting about. Moments later, the entire bit imploded in upon itself and then it was gone. The calmness lasted only a moment before the rest of the storm hit. Dustin and Hoshi didn't even have time to react. The level three shockwave launched outward and slammed into the shuttle like a raging tsunami.

The last thing Hoshi remembered seeing before the shuttle's inertial dampers could no longer compensate for the extreme conditions was the sight of one of their warp nacelles disintegrating as it flew across the view screen. After that, everything went dark.


	2. Not Again

As Dustin finally awoke, he was relieved on several accounts, one he was still alive, two and probably of equal importance, perhaps even more importantly; the shuttle seemed to have survived the blast relatively intact. Being without a ship would effectively kill both Dustin and Hoshi, given that they weren't able to survive in a vacuum.

When he finally opened his eyes, Dustin saw that he was underneath the helm. He wasn't sure how he got there, nor was he certain he wanted to know, even though none of his body parts felt contorted or out of place. Despite that fact, Dustin grabbed the chair and was going to lift himself up but his body roared in pain. He almost decided to fall back under the helm and simply wait for rescue. But then again, unless someone sent out a distress signal, the likelihood of someone rescuing them was remote.

Dustin climbed into the chair. As he was doing so, he noticed that Hoshi was practically mimicking his movements. She seemed to be better off by the way she was moving and not showing any signs of injury or pain. She checked the controls and sighed.

"It's bad." She said. "Life support systems are destroyed and we're down a nacelle."

Dustin sighed. "Not again. This is the second time in a year that we've been in a shuttle mishap."

"The good news is that we're near an M class planet."

"How near?"

Hoshi frowned. "If we can get the warp engines running we can be there in five hours."

Dustin immediately saw a problem with that. "That's going to be difficult with only one warp nacelle. I do suppose that we're lucky that I'm an engineer so I guess I'll get to work right away."

Some time later, Dustin was almost complete with getting the engines back online. Hoshi had been of some assistance. She wasn't an engineer and not to mention she was still getting used to 24th century technology. But she was doing rather well so far.

"I'm transferring all available power to the warp drive and containment fields. The last thing we need is a warp core breach."

Hoshi nodded affirmatively as she tapped on her station. "Got it."

Dustin turned to the helm. "Setting a course for the planet. Warp one."

Moments later, the Curry jumped into low warp.

It wasn't the most pleasant ride Dustin had ever been on. Hoshi was more used to it due to the, lack of a better term, more primitive ships from her time. She had mentioned before that the NX-01 Enterprise got a bit bumpy from time to time.

Suddenly there was a resonant boom that emanated from behind, followed by a wave of sparks rolling into the cockpit. The shuttle immediately dropped out of war, continuing to hurtle toward the planet.

"Damn it. We've got a warp core breach." Dustin shouted over the continuing racket of explosions.

"We're not going to make it." Sato announced after glancing at the data displayed on screen.

Dustin and Hoshi just stared at each other for a few moments before getting back to what they were doing.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Dustin said.

For the past several hours they had been traveling with life support running out, a turbulent ride without incident, keeping the warp core intact with nothing but hopes and happy thoughts. So much for being Peter Pan.

They were still sailing toward the planet at high impulse, and without friction in space, there was nothing stopping that forward momentum. The chief engineer knew that if they didn't get off the Curry, a very large explosion would be stopping more than the shuttle in just a few minutes. He knew they couldn't effectively land the shuttle and not kill themselves in the process and that just left one option.

"Get the emergency supplies ready for transport." He called out.

Hoshi's eyes bugged out of her head. "Are you crazy? We can't transport to the surface from this distance.

"That's an order, Commander." Dustin said in a stern voice, making it clear this was not a suggestion or open for discussion. Sato rose from her chair and gathered the emergency supplies from the small storage locker located in that aft section of the cockpit.

"I'm boosting power to the annular confinement beams so we don't disperse through the transporter carrier wave over the extreme distance." Dustin said. "But I'm warning you, this is going to be the most disorienting transporter experience you've ever had."

_God, I hope not. _Hoshi thought slightly remembering the time when she first used the transporter. That whole experience was messed up.

She stepped into the tiny alcove. Dustin waited a few more seconds until the warp core breach was nearly critical before rushing over to the transporter. The shorter the distance they had to transport, the less likely they were to experience complications in the end.

But it was now or never. The shuttlecraft was shaking so violently now that Dustin could barely stand vertical, let alone stand and operate the transporter controls. But he managed, and selected a pair of coordinates that he felt wouldn't put them stranded in the middle of the desert or tundra.

The chief engineer had been right about one thing. The transport was not a pleasant one. Even as Hoshi felt the familiar prickling of the transporter beam, she knew it wasn't going to be a fun trip. But like during most transporter trips, perceptions of time are drastically altered. No matter how long it actually takes, the journey always seems instantaneous. This time was no different, only when Sato found herself on the bottom of a hard, rocky forest floor, she felt as if someone had just turned her body inside out.

She was still tingling from the prolonged exposure, and felt an acute case of dizziness prompt an equally acute case of nausea. Slowly, Hoshi opened her eyes. Everything was a blur, spinning around and around. Shapes blurred together into one homogenous blob. Sounds seemed oddly distorted. Sato immediately closed her eyes, bit didn't help. She could still imagine the world spinning around her in a dizzying array of madness. She took a deep breath to calm herself and it seemed to work. The world wasn't spinning as much and the shapes were more definite.

Much as she had suspected earlier, they had landed in the middle of a massive forest. It was humid, but not uncomfortably so, and a light breeze gently passed through, almost unnoticed. Slowly, Sato looked toward the tops of the massive trees to see their height. While they were high, something else, a bit more dramatic, caught her eye.

Shooting through the atmosphere was a single twinkling star, visible despite the broad daylight. As it soared through the air, its brightness dimmed for several seconds before reigniting into a massive explosion of white light. It glittered in the deep azure sky for several moments before forever disappearing. Sato knew it was the smoldering hulk of the Curry meeting its downfall in the atmosphere.


	3. It's Going To Storm

As he opened his eyes, Dustin quietly commended himself for selecting such a pleasant location to set down. Thousands of towering trees dotted the terrain for as far as Dustin could see in all directions. Only a small patch of sky was visible through the dense canopy, and Hoshi Sato was staring right at it.

"Nice view." He said.

She snapped out of her trance and stared at Dustin with a mysteriously sullen look.

"That depends on what you consider nice. The Curry just finished its final mission."

The two walked over and found the distress beacon that had landed a few meters in front of them. They drug it back to their position and hastily brushed off the thin layer of dirt and pine needles that it had collected during its brief respite from action. Then, Zofchak opened up its hatch.

"How's it look?" Hoshi asked.

"It looks like a transmitter." Dustin mused before pulling out a tricorder. He activated in front of the transmitter. "It sustained some minor damage to ODN relays and the power cells suffered a sixty percent loss of energy because of the extended transport."

Hoshi already had a fairly good hunch as to what that meant, but she needed it clarified, just to be sure. "Meaning?"

"Meaning we have two choices. We can set the transmitter to maximum power and get a halfway decent signal out quite a ways but for a limited amount of time. Or we could use a lower setting. The signal would be weaker and wouldn't travel as far, but it would transmit for twice the amount of time.

"I take it there are not other starships in this sector?"

"No."

"We might as well set it to maximum power."

"Agreed." He said before doing the mindless task that only took a moment before the signal began transmitting. Dustin shut off his tricorder and turned back to Hoshi. "Now we wait."

Hoshi unzipped her uniform jacket. "It's really humid here."

Dustin nodded as he did the same. "We should see about finding some sort of brush to make some sort of shelter. If this planet is anything like Earth, then it will be raining soon."

"What makes you say that?"

"Those trees over there look like Earth's maple trees. The leaves of a certain maple tree will turn over to their lighter side if it's going to storm. I know it could be different here but there's also the smell in the air."

Hoshi sniffed the air and smelled the scent of precipitation. "We should hurry."

The two began to walk around the area in search of something they could use for a shelter. The walk was silent and for some reason a bit awkward.

"You know, Commander," Hoshi began. "I don't think I ever knew when you were born."

"February fourteenth twenty-three forty nine. And as a matter of fact I'm not entirely sure of yours either. I do know a lot of about you from what I learned at the academy but not your birthday."

"I was born on July ninth twenty-one twenty-eight."

"So that would make you…" Dustin said while moving his fingers acting like he was really counting. "You look good for someone who is two hundred and eighteen years old." He said with a smile.

"I'm only thirty-seven." Hoshi said hitting his arm with the back of her hand. "

Dustin put up his hands in a mock surrender.

Hoshi stood down from her playful offense and resumed walking along side Dustin. "How many people in your family serve in Starfleet?"

"I was the first and then followed by my sisters. The first Zofchaks to serve in Starfleet."

"My mother wanted me to become a pianist but I wanted to pursue a more scientific career. So I joined Starfleet and I ended up being kicked out my first time."

There was a bit of silence between the two. Dustin was waiting for more. "You can't stop there."

"In my second month, I had a difference of opinion with my CO." She said.

Dustin looked at her knowing there was something more to this 'difference of opinion.' Hoshi noticed the look.

"I broke his arm."

"Why?"

"Poker."

"You broke his arm playing cards?"

"He tried to shut down a game I was running for some of the recruits and some of the training staff."

"Hold on. You ran a regulating poker game at STC?"

"The way the regulations are worded, gambling was an honor violation only if it took place during duty hours. So I ran the game on weekends. One night my CO showed up, tried to sweep all the chips off the table, and I…well, I have a black belt in aikido."

Dustin gave her a very intrigued look.

"I think he was just upset that I didn't invite him to play." She said.

"What happened?"

"I got a bad conduct discharge."

Dustin thought about it and finally grinned. He then looked up to a tree that wasn't a pine tree.

"You think those could work as a frame for our shelter?" He said pointing.

Hoshi looked up to see what he was referring to.

"I believe so."

"Alright then, I'll shoot them down with my phaser and then we'll begin to build our small shelter."

Dustin grabbed his phaser and aimed at the tree limb. He fired, slicing right through the branches. The branch fell and hit the ground. Due to its shape, the branch bounced a bit with part of its smaller limbs sticking into the ground.

"I'll go get it."

Dustin looked down to re-holster his phaser and then stopped in mid-motion. He looked back at the branch and how it was lying there. He then saw the ground and that part of the ground was different from the rest.

"HOSHI, STOP! DON'T MOVE!"


	4. A Lava Tube

Hoshi looked back to Dustin at the call of her name and tried to stop but her forward momentum kept her going and she fell right into some sort of deep mud. It came up to her chin and she had trouble moving. It wasn't water or just mud. It was more like quicksand. Dustin rushed up to her.

"Hoshi, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine but I'm just up to my neck in this stuff."

"It looks like quicksand." Dustin said as he tapped his foot around trying to figure out where the edge was.

Hoshi was in arms reach. So that was a good thing. Hoshi pulled her arms free and reached out to Dustin, who grabbed a hold of them. He pulled as hard as he could and it was a good thing that Hoshi was light minus the gunk that was weighing her down but she was still light enough to be pulled out. Slowly but surely Hoshi was pulled out of the quicksand but Dustin lost his footing and slipped. He didn't slip into the quicksand but he fell to the ground nonetheless and Hoshi ended up on top of him.

"Funny meeting you here." Dustin said.

Hoshi hesitated a moment before getting up.

"Thanks, Commander."

"No problem."

Dustin knew there was no need to thank him but it was cliché to say there was no need to thank him anyway.

Hoshi took off her jacket and blue turtleneck undershirt revealing a grey tank top. She pulled her communicator from her jacket and placed it on her left shoulder strap.

"Well this feels a bit better." Hoshi said.

Dustin would be the last man in the universe to argue. "Let's try to get our shelter built before the storm comes. Judging by these tricorder readings, it's just around the corner."

The two officers gathered what they could and started to build their makeshift shelter around their transmitter. They still didn't have enough to complete the shelter so they continued to gather supplies. The two walked around looking for more things to gather. Dustin stood in place while Hoshi wandered to the top of the hill.

Shortly after leaving her comrade's sight, she saw some things that would work for her and Zofchak. She ran up to them but she never reached them.

Dustin was picking up a few things and then heard a loud scream.

"HOSHI?"

He ran to the top of the hill and didn't see where Hoshi had gone. He tapped his communicator.

"Zofchak to Sato."

No response.

"Hoshi, please respond."

The next thing Hoshi knew she was crashing down a hole and slammed into the bottom of it. The first thing she heard was a loud snapping sound.

"Shit." She called out, not bothering to hide her anger. Numerous pulses of pain throbbed up through her leg, indicating that it was broken. Given the epicenter of each little pulse, Hoshi estimated she had cracked an area just above her ankle. Not that it mattered; it would've been equally unpleasant anyplace else.

She heard Dustin's voice come through her communicator. She reached over and tapped it.

"Sato here."

"Where are you?"

"I fell down some hole."

Before she could tell him where she was, he apparently found her.

"Are you okay, Commander?" He asked.

"For the most part minus my broken leg."

Hoshi winced as another jolt of pain surged up her leg. It felt as if she was being torn apart. But eventually it passed.

"How bad?"

Hoshi slowly attempted to wiggle her toes. They move, barely, and each attempt elicited only more pain. "Bad."

"It's a lava tube."

"A lava tube?"

"Don't worry. I believe it's inactive."

"I don't know about you, but I never get worried when I'm sitting in the bottom of a lava tube."

"I said it was probably inactive." Dustin said. She saw him peer down a bit deeper into the tube. "You're always falling into something, aren't you."

"I'll get the med kit."

"No, because I saw it fall out of the emergency kit before we beamed out."

"I'll find you something to get you out of there. Don't go anywhere." He said before leaving.

Dustin slowly brought himself up to his feet and stared down into the lave tube one last time. It was fairly deep and probably steeper than it looked. Indeed, it would be best to find a vine or something equivalent to help Hoshi out of it.

He looked around for something but nothing was on the ground that was long enough. He turned his attention skyward, looking for a sturdy vine wrapped around or near one of the large pine trees. He then noticed that the clouds had become darker and far more ominous. He checked his tricorder once again and once he saw the results, he felt his pulse suddenly quicken. To his fear, this storm that was approaching meant business.

One the surface, it was a simple afternoon thunderstorm caused when the warm air near the ground rises into the atmosphere, condensing and turning into clouds, that eventually give way to rain and thunderstorms, should there be enough humidity lurking about.

They had made a note about the humidity when they first arrived. The humidity was still high and it was high enough to create a massive thunderstorm. He then realized that if he didn't get Hoshi out of that lava tube the rain would accumulate in the tube and she'd drown.


	5. Attempts

Dustin felt a few faint drips on his neck and face as he was trying to find something to help Hoshi out of the lava tube. The wind was eerily calm, and an obscure darkness had settled upon the forest. No birds chirped and no deer frolicked. Only sounds of distant thunder and the quiet pelt of the intermittent rainfall on the leaves filled the air. One drop at first, then two, then none before three more. It would continue like that for several minutes then all hell would break loose.

If he was going to do anything to save Hoshi before the rain, he would have to act in the short window of opportunity before the rain started pouring. He knelt down beside a grounded vine and ripped it from the ground.

"Here!" He shouted as tossed one end of the vine down into the lava tube. "Grab hold!"

Hoshi saw the frayed end of a vine drop down into her humble little area and dangle innocently, awaiting her arrival. She carefully grabbed the vine and slowly pulled herself to her feet, taking extreme measures to avoid placing any weight on her broken left ankle.

But not even a meter above the bottom of the lava tube, Hoshi's weight on the frayed and twisted vine prompted its destruction. It snapped, violently sending Sato back to the ground.

She landed on her back and banged her head off the backside of the wall, only to be saved by her urge to lean forward and care for her terribly painful ankle.

Moments later, Hoshi felt the first placid drops of rain strike her head. If the rain didn't grow beyond a trickle, she had a chance, but given the storm that was approaching, that did not seem likely. She sighed, and forced back the urge to yelp as she accidentally jerked her damaged leg.

A violent clasp of thunder roared through the heavens, followed in close proximity by the opening of the floodgates. The gentle trickle of water that had pelted Hoshi's head only moments ago suddenly turned into a torrential downpour, which she readily realized would only get worse when the rain began to collect on the surface and eventually drain into the lava tube.

Upon close analysis, Dustin finally decided his seemingly choice landing spot in the middle of a forest was a terminal error. The heavy rain had turned the ground into a stream of mud, collecting rainwater, and debris. The trees flailed violently in the incredible wind, dropping leaves and needles like a shedding animal. The wind whipped rain, in concert with the flying debris hindered any attempt Dustin made.

His uniform was thoroughly drenched, now becoming more of an impediment than a garment, as its growing weight had begun to slow whatever progress he could make. He pulled his communicator off his jacket and put on his yellow turtleneck and then shed the jacket.

The driving rain, in concert with the lack of ambient light, decreased visibility to no more than a few meters. He clawed with an undying sense of futility at the underbrush for some sort of vine to aid Hoshi, but the unyielding wind constantly played evil games with him, until finally, he gave in a hurried back to Hoshi's lava tube.

As he neared the tube, Dustin could already see the small channels of water flowing down into the tub, but as the storm worsened, he feared the flow would do the same. Hastily, he bent over the barely visible tube and peered down.

"Hoshi, are you okay?"

"I won't be for long." She said. For the first time since her tumble, Dustin sensed the faintest hints of fear in her voice.

As a tendril of intense lightning shuffled across the sky overhead, he was able to see why. The rising water glittered in the brief exposure to light, the tube was filling rapidly.

Knowing full well that no vine, no matter how strong, could save her at this moment, Dustin started sensing his own trepidation. "Can you swim?" He suggested in desperation.

"With a broken leg? No. Besides the sides of this lava tube are about as slipper as ice. I don't have anything to grab a hold of."

Dustin felt his hear sink as a flood of pessimistic emotions overwhelmed his mind, filling it with a void of creative disarray. Despite his most valiant efforts, he couldn't produce a single productive idea in his mind for the life of him, or Hoshi.

Slowly, he stood erect in the driving stream of the rain outside of Hoshi's tube and took in a deep breath to clear his mind, which would hopefully inspire him to think. But it only drew his attention to the ambient red glow of the transmitter where they had set down several hours earlier.

It was flashing, visible even in the downpour. Dustin knew that could mean only one thing: someone was hailing them. And the odds were against a Federation Starship coming to their rescue, Dustin knew if the didn't respond, the ship could very well pass them by, assuming it to be nothing more than background interference randomly converging into what appeared to be a message.

Then, he stared back down at Hoshi's watery grave in the making, knowing that if he stopped searching for a way to save her to answer the message, she would probably drown. He glanced back at the transmitter. It was still flashing, calling out to him.


	6. Let's Go Home

Dustin stared blankly at the flashing transmitter for several moments. Indeed, it was calling out to him. If he moved, he could be resting comfortably on a dry starship within a few hours. Free of this infernal prison that had claimed them, and on his way home.

But he was suddenly plagued by the realization that Hoshi was not calling his name. His heart skipped a beat as he peered back down into the watery hole. "HOSHI!"

No response.

"HOSHI!" He repeated, only this time with more force behind it, making sure each every sound wave made it to the bottom of the lava tube.

And he let out a long sigh of relief when Hoshi's own sound waves finally shouted back.

"What?" She cried back with a weak voice.

"Just checking." For a moment, Dustin considered not telling Hoshi about the transmitter. She didn't need to be burdened by the knowledge that salvation was so close. But for some reason beyond Dustin's comprehension, he told her anyway. "The transmitter is going off. Someone is hailing us."

"Go answer it." Hoshi said decisively, apparently mustering whatever energy she had left to convey her message.

"What about you?"

"I'm okay." She lied.

Dustin saw right through it. "No you're not. You're dying down there. If I go answer that transmitter, you'll be dead by the time I get back."

"And if you don't answer it, we probably won't get another chance, and wind up stranded here for who knows how long." She started to cough. At first it was a simple cough but by the time her statement had concluded, Dustin felt as if she were about to hack out a lung. He couldn't even imagine what she was going through in the bottom of that tube, and wasn't sure if he ever could.

But at the very least, he could go to the transmitter with clear conscience, knowing it was what Hoshi wanted him to do.

And so, slowly, he rose from the edge and began the march across the torrents of mud and water in the general direction of the transmitter, still happily flashing despite the tempestuous weather. But not even a few meters away from the lava tube, Dustin was instantly halted by the piercing sound of Hoshi's hacking. It was constant, and filled with pain and suffering. But he slowly forced himself onward.

One step.  
One cough.  
Another step.  
Another cough.

Dustin took yet another look at the innocently flashing transmitter. It was a way out. He needed to answer the hail, get off the planet and return to the Alexandria. He forced himself toward the flashing transmitter. Now, he could hear its enticing call, the constant, droning blip that signaled the incoming transmission.

And then there was silence.

Dustin glanced at the transmitter. It was still flashing, but he couldn't hear it. The wind was still howling, the thunder still rumbling, and the rain still falling. But none of the sounds that he had been growing accustomed to were audible, including the piercing convulsions of Hoshi Sato.

He froze.

"Forget you." He shouted at the transmitter.

Without a second thought, he turned on his heel and stormed back toward the lava tube. The trip back through the mudflows was almost surreal. Everything was moving in slow motion. The mud kicking up from his boots onto his back. The evil drops of rain pelting his face. But he willed himself to continue at full power.

Once he arrived at the lava tube, time finally reasserted itself at a relatively normal speed. Dustin hastily gazed down into the lava tube. He could hardly see more than a few meters down. Nothing appeared to him as more than a dark blob, but he knew one of those blobs was Hoshi.

Hoshi had been right about the walls of the tube. They were slick with dripping water and mud. But there was a notable inclination to the tube which he believed was scaleable, that was, if Starfleet's boots lived up to their reputation of endurance in any conditions, no matter how harsh.

Quickly, he backed into the tube and searched with his boots for some sort of foothold to aid his descent. There was a few indentations peppered throughout the wall, but the majority of them were becoming filled with mud and sediment.

Even so, he managed to jam his foot into one of the gouges, and grabbed onto a thick root at the top of the tube before starting his careful descent into the tube.

Once he had taken the first careful step, Dustin began probing for yet another foothold below the one he was currently perched upon. After a moment of searching, he was able to kick the sediment of out a lower crevice and jam his foot into it, securing safe passage to an even lower level.

He continued like this for several minutes, carefully searching for the fastest, but safest route to the water, which he found moments later.

It was ice cold and swimming with a surplus of prickly pine needles, fallen leaves and a thick mixture of mud and sediment that seemed to cling to his uniform like glue.

Hoshi was huddled nearby, clinging to a tree root that had jostled itself loose during the storm. She was covered in the insipid mixture of muck and shivering in the unpleasantly cold water, her teeth chattering rapidly, audible to Dustin despite the distance between them.

Dustin extended his arm to Hoshi's root and tested the water below in search of bottom. There was none. He sighed wearily and slowly took Hoshi into his grasps. She hacked with the newfound movement, but did not resist.

Dustin realized he couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't come back for her, and now, with Hoshi's weakened, chilled body in his grasps, he was relieved to see she was still breathing regularly.

The rain still poured down into the lava tube by the bucket, hastily filling the tube, making Dustin's task of escape that much more difficult. He reached for the foothold he had sought out earlier, but found the mud and sediments had already reclaimed their former residence.

Even so, he jammed his foot into the side of the tube, breaking free some of the mud and sediment. The resulting foothold barely constituted such a name, but Dustin knew it would hold long enough for him to begin to climb to the top of the lava tube.

"Dustin."

"Don't talk."

"If we…don't make it…"

"I said don't talk. We're going to get through this."

Hoshi continued completely ignoring Dustin's comment. "I want you to know…I love you."

Dustin stopped and looked at her. He then almost stumbled because of a loss of concentration. But due to Hoshi's confession, he was even more determined to get out of the hole.

While keeping a tight hold on Hoshi, Dustin dug his fingers into the mushy sides and dug a spot for his hands to grasp. The lava tube's slight inclination would be an advantage now, as he could slowly slink the two of them in an upward direction.

Even so, it took a lot more work to bring them out of the tube, as gravity was now working against him, enticing the group back toward the bottom of the hole, an action that Dustin knew would result in a watery death should it happen. And so he made absolutely sure that it would not.

He dug his feet and fingers into the mud, pulling himself and Hoshi upward until finally, his fingers danced upon the slimy, frayed root that he had initially used to begin his descent into the lava tube. Slowly, Dustin breathed a long sigh of relief, realizing the journey was nearing its end. Using all of his might, Dustin pulled himself and Hoshi upward, hoping that the root would endure the extreme pressures pulling upon it.

He pulled and pulled until finally, he was able to bring them to the top. The two of them clung to the rapidly crumbling top. He felt the chunks of mud sliding back into the lava tube, but Dustin did not yield. He grabbed for anything he could. Rocks, roots, grass, vines, anything that would get him and Hoshi out of the damned hole.

To his surprise, Hoshi actually joined in, extending her arms to the point where both she and Dustin could safely pull themselves to the surface.

Just as they emerged, the majority of the adjacent rock face collapsed into the lava tube, plunging into the watery pool of muck with a sonorous plunk.

They let out a collective sight of relief before collapsing on their backs beside each other in the downpour. Dustin could feel the mud and water hopping up from the ground onto his face, but he didn't care. The driving rain was releasing the sediment that had collected on his uniform, decreasing the weight load he would have to endure in the future.

He slowly craned his neck in the general direction of the now inactive transmitter before turning his attention back to Hoshi.

"Are you okay?"

Hoshi nodded and turned to him. "That was probably the most foolish thing you've ever done."

"You're probably right but I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't tried."

The two of them laid side by side for several moments in the dying thunderstorm. The rain had let up substantially, and tiny pockets of blue sky were breaking through the dense overcast. Soon, sun would come out.

"I hate the weather sometimes." Dustin said. Then he remembered what Hoshi had said to him before they started climbing. She had told him that she loved him.

"So how long have you felt this way?" Dustin asked.

"Since the time that you were captured by the mirror universe."

Dustin lied there in silence for a moment before speaking. "You remember when I was going to say something during our last shuttle accident but didn't?"

"Yeah."

"I was going to tell you the same thing. But then I chickened out when you asked me after we got back to the ship."

Hoshi leaned over and kissed Dustin.

_Chief Engineer's Personal Log: Stardate:57772.8: After spending eight days on a planet known as Castor, Commander Sato and I have been rescued by the Saber Class USS Katana, and are currently en route to the Sigma Ceti System to rendezvous with the Alexandria._

Hoshi laid sprawled out on the soft bed in her guest quarters on the Katana. She was enjoying the luxury of the room after eight days of wilderness living. A few moments later, the doors chimed.

"Come in." She said.

The doors slid apart revealing Commander Zofchak.

"Commander."

"You can call me Dustin. We technically aren't on duty."

"I don't know what I was thinking." She said with a slight grin.

"I just stopped by to let you know we're almost home."

Hoshi felt a wave of relief run over her. "Good. I can't wait to get back in my own bed. I mean, sure these beds are a step up from pine needles, but they're just not the same."

Dustin nodded. "I know. But I do miss the fresh pine scent."

Dustin noticed that the streaks indicative of warp speed slowly faded into a tranquil starfield. Hoshi glanced out the window and smiled upon seeing the Alexandria hanging just outside the window. She stood and stood next to Dustin. She slightly extended her hand to let him know that she wanted his hand in hers. He took the offer.

"Let's go home." Dustin said as they walked out of the room together.


End file.
